Link between socio-economic profiles and food security of rural households in the prefecture of Tandjouare (Northern Togo)

Knowledge of the effect of the socio-economic profile on the food security of rural households provides information on how to act for their well-being. For this purpose, a study was conducted in the prefecture of Tandjouare (Togo) and reached 326 randomly sampled households. It first brought out the socio-economic profiles of households based on the Household Economic Approach (HEA) and the Hierarchical Ascending Classification (HAC). The food security profile was determined using the Household Food Insecurity Scale (HFIS), the Household Food Consumption Score (HFCS) and the Household Food Diversity Score (HFDS). The Chi-square independence test, Cramer's V and the Correspondence Factor Analysis (CFA) highlighted the causal links between these two profiles. The results show a statistically significant relationship with P-values of 2.2 10-16; 2.2 10-16 and 4.6 10-5 between the socio-economic profiles and HFIS, HFCS, HFDS respectively. Cramer's V shows a high intensity relationship (0.516 and 0.422) with HFIS, HFCS respectively and a low intensity relationship with HFDS (0.197). HAC indicates that poor households are more likely to be food insecure. Given this situation, it appears that strengthening household livelihoods would have a positive impact on their socio-economic and food security profiles.

Keywords: Socio-economic profiles, food security, HEA, HAC, Tandjouare, Togo